


True Comrades

by RoseradeFan



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Coping, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Other, Robotic Feelings, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 10:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17917217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseradeFan/pseuds/RoseradeFan
Summary: After being hacked, Lynx concludes their trauma inhibitors have been damaged; the human method of coping through a good friend is employed.





	True Comrades

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place immediately after the “Searching” comic. References in-game lore.

“Don’t you have a break between assignments?” Zarya turns her attention back toward the robot as they speak in that synthetic voice.

Zarya frowns in question to say, “what?” Lynx’s ear-like receptors flatten against their skull at her response.

“An off-duty… thing?”

“Oh. You’re right—I have time. The frontlines must wait then.” Rolling her broad shoulders, she sets aside her particle cannon, flinching at the ashy smell of her armor. She could only assume it was covered in soot; the moon wasn't too bright that night.

“Should we contact Volskaya?”

“Katya… chairman Volskaya will debrief me shortly.” Lynx lowers their head. After a glance at her comm, she looks towards the omnic. Though they were omnic, the way their shoulders fell was all too human.

Blinking away the soot in her eyes, she slowly wraps an arm around them for a hug.

“Thank you.”

Lynx shivers slightly. Zarya feels it through their hoody. They don’t make “eye” contact. They don’t snark or quip. Lynx just tilts their head up.

“Never thought I’d be so useless when I’m that close to dying.” Zarya gives a weightlifter’s squeeze as Lynx yelps in surprise at the tactile stimulus. She ends the hug only to clap a firm hand over their shoulder.

“You did good work, Lynx. I’d have never found Sombra without your help.” Lynx brightens up at this comment, but not by much. They nod, rolling out their joints.  
With a shaky hand, they clasp a park bench before falling onto it. Zarya awkwardly coughs and gestures towards where she knew they were staying.

“Do you want to go back to the hotel?” Lynx shakes their head. Not yet.

“Is it okay if I sit next to you, then?” They nod, drawing their knees up to their chest, hugging them tightly. Zarya lowers herself next to them, far gentler than her bulky frame would suggest.

Zarya sits next to her companion in peacable silence before she hears him start up his voice.

“When Sombra hacked me, I…”

They trail off. They contort their body to say their message, but no matter which way they turn, they can’t speak. Zarya shifts on her seat.

“Do you want a hug?”

Lynx leans heavily into Zarya, nodding along the way. The ex-bodybuilder then drapes a warm arm over them, pulling them closer.

They were cold to touch and smooth to feel; Zarya wasn’t sure whether this cold was good or bad for an omnic like him. Was it normal?

It didn’t matter, she supposed. They’d be fine; she was sure of it.

“Zarya. I think Sombra hacked into my trauma inhibitors. I can’t… how do I stop these feelings?” Zarya tightened her hug around them. Maybe they wouldn’t be fine after all.

“Let me carry you back to the hotel.”  
Lynx nods furiously, wrapping their arms around her thick neck. She carries the metal omnic like a small child, hoisting them over her shoulders as her other arm picks up her particle cannon.

The trek isn’t too long, though Zarya sighs in relief when the hotel door finally opens. She dumps her particle cannon on the floor before lowering Lynx onto their bed. They smell like ash and smoke… like home, sadly.

Zarya was brushing the soot taste from her mouth when, out of the corner of her eye, Lynx begins to writhe.

Dropping her toiletries and taking the least amount of time possible to rinse, she runs to get on the bed.

She had never comfort an omnic before—they were past the point of death after Zarya cleaned up the battlefield.

Her eyes hardened in determination regardless. She had handled soldiers with trauma from the second omnic crisis; she could handle a traumatized omnic.

She slowly puts a hand on their arm. Her mouth opens and from it comes a simple melody.

“Баю – баюшки – баю...”

Lynx’s visual receptors shut down; he falls “asleep”. Thankfully, his jitterings stop.

With a quiet motion, she switches the hotel light off before lying down next to them. After their work, Lynx had shown themselves to be true comrades.


End file.
